Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State Government yesterday faulted claims by his immediate past predecessor, Mr. Peter Obi, that he left behind a whopping N75 billion while leaving office on march 17, 2014.

Speaking at a press conference at the conference hall of the Agu-Awka seat of power, Governor Obiano, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, SSG Prof. Solo Chukwulobelu , said that only the total sum of N9 billion was left in physical cash while N185b was inherited as debt.

He observed that the N185 debt was the total sum of all projects inherited from his successor, who paid a total of N78.9 billion on inherited debts.

According to the SSG, the previous government paid a total sum of N35.1 billion on inherited projects between March 2014 and August 2015 while the Obiano administration paid a total amount of N11.7 billion within the same period.

He disclosed that as at March 17, 2014, the previous administration had achieved 42.6 percent completion of the total inherited projects while the present administration had as at July 31, 2015 achieved an additional 19.0 percent taking the completion rate to 61.6 percent on inherited projects from the past administration.

He noted that while the State’s internally-Generated Revenue is increasing, the total revenue from the Federation Account from March 2014 to August 2015 is N69.2 billion, adding that Obiano administration has spent 50.8 percent of its FAAC Revenue on settling payment certificates arising from inherited projects from the past administration.

On the claim that the former governor left the sum of N75 billion in the state coffers, Governor Obiano said: “There was no N75 billion found in the treasury of Anambra State and the liquidity assets were far below what is on record.”

While citing figures detailed in Obi’s handover note, the governor said: “Based on the figure taken from the Handover Notes from the previous administration to the current administration, it is evident that the actual and voluntary cash investments made by the previous administration amounts to approximately N35.6 billion, consisting of mobilisation paid on contracts for shopping malls and hotels, cost of two Business Parks in Onitsha, investments in Eurobonds, among others. Items such as counterpart funds held jointly with domestic development finance institutions, land contributions, FGN refunds, differences in bank balances and investments made directly by the Federal Government on behalf of the three (3) tiers of government totaling approximatelyN39 billion have been reclassified as “liquid investments, ”FGN Receivables”, and “Involuntary Investments”.

He however said the press conference was called to set the records straight saying that a lot of half baked information has been widely celebrated in the social media and in some national Newspaper adding the present state government had been able to stand true to its responsibilities through self efforts.

•Photo shows Governor Obiano.

Update news